Three Afognak sections close as Kodiak seiners get openings through Aug. 31

Commercial salmon fishing in the Duck Bay, Izhut Bay and Outer Kitoi Bay sections of the Afognak District closed at 6 p.m. Wednesday, while the state opened new fishing periods of up to 102 hours elsewhere in the Kodiak Management Area.

The schedule comes from Emergency Order No. 4-FS-K-42-26, released Wednesday morning by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Division of Commercial Fisheries. Assistant area management biologist Todd Anderson is one of three listed on it.

The longest period, 102 hours from noon Thursday to 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31, applies to the Outer Ayakulik and Humpy-Deadman sections, the Seven Rivers, Two-Headed and Sitkalidak sections of the Eastside Kodiak District, and the Northeast Kodiak District. A 72-hour period carries Outer Karluk, Central, North Cape, Inner Uganik Bay, Southwest Afognak, and the Cape Alitak, Alitak Bay, Moser Bay and Olga Bay sections to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29. Most of the rest of the Afognak District gets a 54-hour period, noon Thursday to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29. Inner Kitoi Bay stays closed.

Chinook 28 inches or longer still may not be retained by purse seine gear anywhere in the Kodiak Area, including the Mainland District, and must be released unharmed. The department said in May that record low Chinook escapements on the Karluk and Ayakulik rivers were shaping its management. Karluk River Chinook escapement was 93 fish in 2025 against a biological escapement goal of 3,000 to 6,000, and Ayakulik River Chinook escapement was 444 fish in 2025 against a goal of 4,800 to 8,400.

The advisory does not spell out the run data behind each window, and it includes no response from the fleet. The Kodiak office takes questions at (907) 486-1830, with a 24-hour recorded fishery line at 486-4559.